Will a USB WIFI adaptor work for my printer?

As an Area Leader I've been given a printer by 4N for printing placeholders etc.

Problem is, it's not WIFI enabled so I have to lug it and my laptop onto my dining table to do any printing then store it away in its box again so I can use my own (wifi enabled) printer for non 4N printing.

I've seen USB WIFI adapters for adding to non-WIFI enabled laptops and wondered would these also work for my printer or do I need to be buying a more expensive WIFI print server or something.

Hey local 4N Area leader buddy....

As you had no replies, how about we both try it as I too have a similar situation...

Then lets compare notes...I am using a netgear usb dongle thingy...do you have a dongle thingy as I got a spare one for free if you need one.

Unfortunately not as you need to install software to get these adapters to work

its a shame I know

I used to have the same issue when I was an AL and Im an IT geek I have 4 printers already for various tasks

You can get adaptors to give you wireless for a USB or parallel printer. About £25 usually. They are a different thing from the USB dongle you plug into your laptop. Jim

I didnt know this obviously not keeping upto to date with the wireless wonders

Kudos Jim

We found Wifi Printers complicated unreliable and not what we thought they would be out of the box so we decided to buy printers with an RJ45 connector at the back of it and then attached that to a hub [cable and hub £10'ish] and then attached the hub to the broadband router using another RJ45 cable and then installed the printer locally on all the computers. Because the RJ45 connection on the printer gives it an IPaddress it is easy to connect to the printer via the network [even if you are not 'IN' a network].

The printer is in a back room [both of them actually] and we all do our printing from wherever we are and collect it when we are walking past. Its out of the way but accessible 24/7

I would agree with the principle - don't use wireless unless its unavoidable. How about a long USB cable so you don't have to move the printer?

^^ as Les says, that's the best way to do it, in that it avoids having to obtain a print server for a network installation. You may have a broadband router that does this for you, though. I have a USB port on my router designed for a printer, which obviously allows me to access it over the network from either wired or wireless clients.

Wireless signals to printers themselves tend not to be reliable, in my experience, although I'd have to say I haven't tried it in a while, and things like this are a lot better than they were. In the old days, they'd start printing if a taxi drove by (slight exaggeration, perhaps, but you know what I mean!)

Jim

You need to specify that in over 5 metre lengths you need an 'active' USB extension cable or the signal drops out. Active USB cables have a 'Repeater' booster built into the cable [little box] that means you can add multiples of these together to give you versatility [bit of a pig though].

I know you knew that - just need to tell them that don't

You could try a wireless print server ! It depends how you are connecting it or which connection the printer has

Netgear PS101 would suit parallel to ethernet

netgear wgps606 is also an option, either of these connect to the router which communicates jobs from laptop to printer.

It does look as though a print server is the only option but they're as expensive as printers!

My router does have a USB port but as that is in the lounge next to the phone socket I'm no better off attaching the printer to that - just spreading work even further into my home.

My desk is in my hallway and my own wifi printer is in the spare room. The signal works fine between that, the laptop in the hall and the router in the lounge.

I guess the only other alternative is for 4N to pay for sets of printer cartridges for my own printer, and me pass the 4N printer on to another area leader.

With more of us operating on WIFI, I hope 4N will ensure the next batch of printers purchased are WIFI enabled - these days they needn't cost much more at all.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.

Hi there, check this out...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lexmark-Z1420-wireless-printer-software-instruction_W0QQitemZ300405089591QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_Printers_Printers_JN?hash=item45f189e537

Please, 4N, don't look at WIFI enabled printers, as many IT men here have already pointed out these tend to be unreliable. Look at network capable printes instead.

WIFI is such a fashion term in IT.

Michelle. please tell us the model of both your printers, and your router, we (IT bods) will otherwise be giving all kinds of silly advice which may not fit your circumstances.

You need one of these bad boys. They are about £70 and let you connect printers and hardrives to a wifi hub so you can access them all around the house.

http://i.engadget.com/2010/03/15/iomega-iconnect-review-getting-your-printers-hdds-online-has-n/

Not idea if you are shifting masses of data but for normal everyday stuf your'll be up up up and away!

I have a wireless print server (Netgear) that I bought for exactly this reason. My own printer is network enabled but not wireless, ie plugs into a router or switch via a CAT5 cable (standard network cable, aka RJ45), as per Les's suggestion. The print server meant I could put that and my 4N printer in the back room out of the way as I didn't want them cluttering up the sitting room where the broadband router is. This works brilliantly for my printer as it is a true network printer, so communicates properly with my laptop. I reverted back to lugging the laptop into the back room and plugging straight into the USB for the 4N printer as that way I know what it's not happy about whenever it stops printing, eg which print cartridge has run out. This is the bit of the communication that doesn't work across the network whilst printing wirelessly. Pain in the bum, but less so than trying to guess what was going on whenever it sulked. I can't use my own printer for 4N as the photo paper won't feed through, so I have no other option.

Yes, properly network enabled printers would make life much easier for many of us, wireless or not. I do think that the wireless technology is fine and pretty reliable these days (and I'm a closet IT techy!). Just be wary of spending money on a print server that will not give you the same result as a true wireless printer.